Unrivaled hosted its semifinals on Monday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The stop reportedly generated $1 million in gate revenue as Vinyl, Phantom, Breeze and Mist competed for a chance to advance to the championship game on Wednesday.

The sold-out crowd of 18,261 included UConn Huskies guard Azzi Fudd and NBA legend Carmelo Anthony. Other celebrities in the crowd included Sabrina Ionescu, Issa Rae, Justin Tuck, Sue Bird, Jason Sudeikis, Wanda Sykes, Kelley O’Hara, Ashton Kutcher and league investor Alex Morgan.

With no WNBA games currently happening and CBA negotiations still in flux, the crowd at Barclays started chanting three words during Monday’s games:

‘Pay the players!’ the people attending said.

The 2026 Unrivaled Playoffs continue at Sephora Arena in Miami on Wednesday, March 4. The championship game is scheduled for at 9:30 p.m. ET on TNT, truTV and HBO Max.

Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers shared her thoughts on the WNBA’s ongoing CBA negotiations.

‘At this point, it’s not really a negotiation anymore. Both sides aren’t moving,’ Bueckers said. ‘So, I feel like we need to continue to have these conversations, continue to actually have change implemented for us to move on our stance.’

‘We as players, we don’t want a strike. We wanna have a season. I love playing basketball. That’s all I wanna do. But, again, there’s things that need to be handled, and we wanna do it as professionals.

On Monday, a source confirmed to USA TODAY that the WNBA submitted a counterproposal to the players’ union on March 1. The proposal was in response to the WNBPA’s Feb. 27 submission.

In Sunday’s proposal, the league offered to make first- and second-team All-WNBA players on rookie contracts eligible to sign a maximum contract in their fourth year. Those players would not be eligible for a core designation following that extension. A player on a rookie scale contract that earns MVP could similarly be eligible for a supermax deal.

The WNBA’s latest offer also increased the Year 1 salary cap to $5.75 million, up from $1.5 million in 2025. Based on conservative league projections, the salary cap would grow to roughly $8.5 million by 2031, the final year of the CBA.

The WNBA’s proposal also comes as WNBPA vice president and Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum viewed the league’s offer so far as a ‘significant win.’

‘I want to play, and players want to play,’ Plum said.

‘And so obviously we’re going to continue to negotiate and do everything we possibly can to get this done in a timely fashion. But obviously a strike would be the worst thing for both sides, because we are in a [revenue sharing system], so no revenue, no revenue to share.’

• Colorado quarterback Dominiq Ponder died in a single-car accident on Sunday, March 1.
• The team decided to proceed with its scheduled spring practice the following day to honor Ponder’s work ethic.
• Teammates and coaches described the first practice without him as ‘heavy’ but vowed the tragedy would not tear them apart.

Colorado football players held an emergency team meeting Sunday, March 1, after the death of Colorado quarterback Dominiq Ponder and decided to start spring practice as planned on Monday instead of taking the day off.

But practice was “heavy” and the team is still processing its grief under head coach Deion Sanders.

The team chose to practice as planned because it “exemplifies the type of guy that Dom was,” Colorado running back DeKalon Taylor told reporters in Boulder on Monday after practice. “He always came to work, always had a smile on his face, always wanted to get extra work. Honestly, that was the only thing we could do, really, to give him love.”

Dominiq Ponder’s death: ‘It ain’t gonna tear us apart’

Ponder, 23, died Sunday in a single-car accident in Boulder County at about 3 a.m., according to the Colorado State Patrol. The CSP said he lost control of his Tesla trying to negotiate a right-hand curve before rolling down an embankment, where the car caught fire. Speed was considered a factor in the accident, according to the CSP.

The news shocked the team Sunday as it prepared to open the spring football season with the first of 15 spring practices on Monday.

“It can either mold us or it can tear us apart,” Colorado safety Ben Finneseth told reporters Monday in Boulder. “And it ain’t gonna tear us apart.”

Finneseth also said that Ponder’s death has given the team renewed purpose.

‘Everything that we are going to do moving forward is for him’ he said.

Who was Dominiq Ponder?

Ponder was entering his junior season as a non-scholarship player after serving last year as the team’s fourth-string quarterback. His death especially shook Colorado’s quarterback room, where the quarterbacks meet regularly and where Ponder’s energy was “contagious,” according to Colorado offensive coordinator Brennan Marion.

“We’ll just save spot for him in the room,”Marion said.

Marion said he was proud of his players for practicing Monday “with tears in their eyes.”

“I was just proud of the guys for actually going out there, practicing today and toughing it out,” Marion said.

Taylor said practice was “a little heavy at first.”

“But once coach Marion got the guys going, and we all bought in, we had no other choice but to go hard for him, you know?” Taylor said. “I felt like it was a high-effort practice today. Everybody was at least running around, doing their best effort. And if they did mess up, we messed up full-speed, and that was the only way we could do it.”

Pastor addresses Colorado football team

Pastor Keion Henderson addressed the team by video conference, as shown on Thee Pregame Network, one of Sanders’ favored YouTube channels.

“What happened just don’t make sense,” Henderson told the team. “And the beautiful thing about it is we don’t have to pretend that it does. Grief is real. Shock is real. Questions are real. But so is love. And so is legacy.”

Colorado ends spring practice with an open practice and scrimmage in Boulder on April 11.

“Adversity won’t break us,” Marion said. “It’ll help us break records.”

Sanders is scheduled to address the news media Friday. He offered a prayer on social media Monday.

“Lord help us,” Sanders wrote on social media site X. “Wrap your arms around us & give us the words to speak comfort to one another in this time of need, want & despair for many. We Love u Lord and we Trust you in Jesus name. Amen.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

As the calendar turns to March and Selection Sunday looms tantalizingly close, the annual heated discussion around the NCAA men’s basketball tournament bubble has once again commenced.

But for all the debate that surrounds who should be in and out of the 68-team field, dozens of other teams across the country that are safely in will be spending the final two weeks of the 2025-26 regular season jockeying for position on the bracket.

At this pivotal time of year, some teams are hitting their stride and looking poised for a deep tournament run. Others, meanwhile, are watching their once-bright hopes fade with loss after loss.

What teams are surging in March Madness projections? And which ones are starting to stumble?

Here’s a look at the latest list of rising and falling teams for the 2026 NCAA Tournament:

Projected seeds are based on the bracketology update from USA TODAY Sports on Feb. 27

Rising

Florida

Current projected seed: No. 2

The reigning national champions once again look like one of the favorites to cut down the nets with “One Shining Moment” playing in the background. The Gators got off to an inauspicious 5-4 start, but have gone 18-2 since. Their once-struggling backcourt of Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland is starting to round into form while its frontcourt remains arguably the best in the sport.

UConn

Current projected seed: No. 1

If the Gators aren’t able to gobble up that final No. 1 seed, it will likely be because of another recent national champion. The Huskies haven’t been on quite the same run that Florida has — they’re 5-2 in their past seven games after starting the season 22-1 — but one of their recent wins was as impressive a victory as anyone has had this season: a 72-40 beatdown of St. John’s on Feb. 25.

The win helped solidify UConn’s standing as the fourth No. 1 seed, a status aided in part by a Dec. 9 victory at Madison Square Garden against the Florida team that’s chasing it.

Alabama

Current projected seed: No. 4

One month ago, the Crimson Tide were 14-7, coming off a 23-point loss at Florida and were mired in former G League player Charles Bediako’s contentious eligibility fight. Quite a bit has changed since then. Coach Nate Oats’ team has reeled off eight consecutive victories, including against ranked Tennessee and Arkansas teams, and is up to No. 15 in the NCAA’s NET rankings.

Saint Mary’s

Current projected seed: No. 8

The Gaels are coming off their most emphatic, and certainly sweetest, win of the season, a 70-59 victory on Feb. 28 against then-No. 9 Gonzaga in the final regular-season meeting between the rivals as West Coast Conference members. Saint Mary’s won its final eight-season games and is 18-2 since Dec. 15.

With another win against the Bulldogs in a potential WCC championship matchup, the Gaels could maybe manage avoiding a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in a possible second-round NCAA tournament game.

Virginia

Current projected seed: No. 4

Yes, the Cavaliers are coming off a 26-point humbling at the hands of Duke, but there have been few teams better than them nationally since the calendar flipped to 2026. Since a triple-overtime loss at Virginia Tech on New Year’s Eve, Virginia is 14-2, with wins against NC State (twice), at Louisville and against Miami.

Ryan Odom has engineered one of the more impressive one-year turnarounds in recent memory in the sport. It’s the least he could do after upsetting the No. 1 seed Hoos back in 2018 when he was the coach at UMBC.

Falling

BYU

Current projected seed: No. 6

What was set up to be a magical season for the Cougars with potential No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick AJ Dybantsa has started to unravel in recent weeks. Since starting the season 16-1, BYU is just 4-8 in its past 12 games. While some of that is the unavoidable rigor of a Big 12 schedule, it has also suffered losses against the likes of Oklahoma State and West Virginia, neither of which is projected to make the NCAA tournament. Since Jan. 17, the Cougars are only the No. 60 team nationally, according to Bart Torvik.

A season-ending injury to Richie Saunders on Feb. 14 certainly didn’t help matters, but even before that, BYU was already sliding, with a 2-5 mark in its seven most recent games.

Purdue

Current projected seed: No. 2

A Boilermakers team that was 17-1 and No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll just six weeks ago has been decidedly more mortal the past month and change, going 5-6 in its past 11 games. More recently, it has lost three of its past four games, including an 82-74 loss on Sunday at an Ohio State team desperately fighting for its NCAA tournament life.

Purdue still has one of the best players in the sport in guard Braden Smith, but nearing the end of the regular season, the preseason No. 1 team has fallen comfortably short of expectations.

Houston

Current projected seed: No. 2

“Falling” is a relative term when you’re dealing with a program that’s been as dominant as Houston has the past five years, but the Cougars are 1-3 in their past four games after a 23-2 start. That skid included the program’s first three-game losing streak since all the way back in 2017.

Coach Kelvin Sampson’s team ultimately may not be that hurt by the recent slip-ups. Whether it’s as a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed, the Cougars may end up getting to play Sweet 16 and potentially Elite Eight games in Houston.

Texas A&M

Current projected seed: No. 9

Bucky Ball, the intensely fast-paced system implemented by first-year Aggies head coach Bucky McMillan has encountered its share of speed bumps lately. Texas A&M has dropped six of its past eight games after starting the season 17-4, with three of those losses coming by at least 13 points. Thankfully for the Aggies, there’s a chance for a high-profile rebound, with a home game Tuesday against Kentucky.

Louisville

Current projected seed: No. 6

The Cardinals have quietly been one of the more disappointing teams in the sport this season, going just 13-9 since a 7-0 start that vaulted them as high as No. 6 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. Some of that could be attributed to an extended injury absence from five-star freshman guard Mikel Brown, who Louisville went 4-4 without, but even with Brown and every other rotation piece, it has lost three of its past four games.

Coach Pat Kelsey’s team is increasingly looking like a squad that will be fortunate to advance past the first week of the tournament, rather than the Final Four or national championship contender it was viewed as in the preseason.

NC State

Current projected seed: No. 7

Will Wade likely has the Wolfpack headed back to the NCAA tournament in his first season at the helm, but they’re currently limping on their way there. NC State has lost four of its past five after an 18-6 start. The losses are bad enough, but the way they’ve come is even more concerning. It was drubbed by 41 at Louisville and 29 at Virginia, and most recently, it lost on the road to a 13-16 Notre Dame team that had lost 12 of its previous 14 games.

We’re entering the final months of the 2025-26 NBA season, and action is heating up.

For one, players have started to chirp and fire back at one another as rivalries and stakes intensify. That has led to a tightening in the battle for seeding and positioning in both the Eastern and Western Conferences.

But that hasn’t stopped teams at the bottom of the standings to seemingly sabotage the remainder of their seasons in an attempt to preserve their draft positioning. That apparent tanking, against the backdrop of a loaded NBA draft class, has led to a fairly wide discrepancy between teams at the top and those at the bottom.

Here are USA TODAY Sports’ NBA power rankings after Week 17 of the 2025-26 regular season:

USA TODAY Sports NBA power rankings

Note: Records and stats through Feb. 8. Parentheses show movement from last week’s rankings.

NBA Week 18 power rankings: Top 10

1. Detroit Pistons, 45-14 (—)

2. Oklahoma City Thunder, 47-15 (—)

3. San Antonio Spurs, 43-17 (—)

4. Boston Celtics, 40-20 (—)

5. New York Knicks, 39-22 (—)

6. Minnesota Timberwolves, 38-23 (+4)

7. Cleveland Cavaliers, 38-24 (-1 )  

8. Houston Rockets, 37-22 (-1)

9. Denver Nuggets, 37-24 (-1)

10. Los Angeles Lakers, 36-24 (-1)

It is clear who are the top three teams in the NBA. For weeks now, a combination of the Pistons, Thunder and Spurs have all alternated positioning atop this list. But the most compelling narrative is between the Pistons and Thunder, who are still not quite fully healthy, but got a massive boost with the return of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Oklahoma City, though, will be waiting for Jalen Williams (hamstring) to fully heal.

The Timberwolves secured a massive, nine-point victory Sunday, March 1 over the Nuggets to move into fourth place in the West and are the big movers in this week’s power rankings. Anthony Edwards is finding ways to lead his team; the Nuggets forced the ball out of his hands with double teams, so he made the right plays. But in the previous four games, he averaged 33.3 points per contest.

And over the last week, each of the Cavaliers, Rockets, Nuggets and Lakers have suffered questionable losses to dip them further.

NBA Week 18 power rankings: Nos. 11-20

11. Toronto Raptors, 35-25 (—)

12. Phoenix Suns, 34-26 (—)

13. Philadelphia 76ers, 33-27 (—)

14. Orlando Magic, 31-28 (+2)

15. Miami Heat, 32-29 (-1)

16. Atlanta Hawks, 31-31 (+4)

17. Charlotte Hornets, 30-31 (+1)

18. Golden State Warriors, 31-29 (-2)

19. Los Angeles Clippers, 28-31 (-2)

20. Portland Trail Blazers, 29-33 (-1)

Toronto’s most recent four losses have come against the Spurs, Thunder, Pistons and Timberwolves — all elite teams. For the Raptors to crack the Top 10, they’ll need to take some of those games. The resurgence of the Charlotte Hornets continues, as no team has posted a higher net rating — a massive figure of 16.7 — over the last five games.

And the Hawks appear to be big winners, at least initially, from the trading deadline. Acquiring Jonathan Kuminga on a low-cost flier could be a move that gives them a big bump headed into the push for the playoffs. Atlanta has won four consecutive and Kuminga has averaged 21.3 points per game on a wildly efficient 67.7% shooting rate since joining the team.

NBA Week 18 power rankings: Nos. 21-30

21. Milwaukee Bucks, 26-33 (—)

22. Memphis Grizzlies, 23-36 (—)

23. Chicago Bulls, 25-36 (—) 

24. Dallas Mavericks, 21-39 (—)

25. New Orleans Pelicans, 19-43 (+1)

26. Utah Jazz, 18-42 (-1)

27. Washington Wizards, 16-43 (—)

28. Indiana Pacers, 15-45 (+1)

29. Brooklyn Nets, 15-46 (-1)

30. Sacramento Kings, 14-48 (—)

Can Milwaukee make a push into the play-in picture? Giannis Antetokounmpo is set to return Monday, March 2, and his rapport with recent buyout acquisition Cam Thomas will be crucial for the Bucks.

After that, this bottom third is a bunch of teams who are far more interested in their draft position than they are in winning. The Jazz are shutting everyone down with injuries, the Nets have lost eight consecutive and the Kings can’t seem to find any traction whatsoever.

The Washington Wizards are seemingly on track to unveil one of their recent prized acquisitions.

In an Instagram post shared Monday, March 2, point guard Trae Young, whom the team acquired in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks, hinted that he would make his Wizards debut Thursday, March 5 against the Utah Jazz. To that end, a person with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed to USA TODAY Sports Monday that Young is trending in that direction and is expected to play that night.

The person spoke under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter.

The Instagram post includes a reel of Young going through drills in Wizards gear and includes B-roll footage of Washington D.C. The caption of the post simply reads: “March 5th.’

Young ejected before playing a game for Washington

Three days ahead of his likely debut with Washington, Young was courtside inside Capital One Arena with his teammates as the Wizards hosted the Houston Rockets. And he found a way to get in on the action before playing even a minute with his new team.

Young was ejected in the third quarter after running on the court during a dustup between the two teams that saw multiple technical fouls and the Rockets’ Tari Eason ejected after his defensive foul was reviewed as a flagrant.

Young, like his teammates, was upset about Eason’s conduct on the prior possession. He left the arena to loud cheers from the fans and later posted about the ejection on social media:

‘Don’t expect me to get ejected too many more times D.C. .. but I’m definitely bringing that energy & competitiveness when I’m back for my brothers!’

Wizards reeling from injuries, looking at lottery

Young’s expected first game with Washington comes as the Wizards remain well outside of the play-in picture, at 16-43 and 13th in the Eastern Conference. Washington has lost five consecutive games and 8 of its last 10 – including a 123-118 loss to the Rockets Monday night – while dealing with several key injuries.

Young has been sidelined since late December with knee and quadriceps injuries and has played in only 10 games this season. The Wizards acquired Young in exchange for guards CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert.

Young, 27, is a four-time All-Star who is averaging 19.3 points, 8.9 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game this season. Though he remains one of the top distributors in the NBA — Young led the NBA in assists last season with 11.6 per game — his defense has been a significant issue.

Aside from Young, center Anthony Davis, who was acquired in a separate trade with the Dallas Mavericks, has also been out with a left hand ligament injury and still has not suited up for Washington; Davis is reportedly set to miss the remainder of the 2025-26 season. The Wizards have also been without center Alex Sarr (right hamstring strain) and forward Cam Whitmore (deep vein thrombosis).

Washington is navigating a delicate balance for its first-round draft pick. The selection is Top-8 protected, which means that it will convey to the New York Knicks, if it falls to No. 9 or below. This means that any victories over the final quarter of the season could compromise Washington’s draft positioning; the Wizards currently have the NBA’s fourth-lowest winning percentage (.271).

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For the second time in three years, the Houston Texans looked to the trade market to repair their outlook in the backfield.

On March 2, the Texans acquired running back David Montgomery from the Detroit Lions in exchange for fourth- and seventh-round draft picks as well as offensive lineman Juice Scruggs, according to multiple reports.

The deal splits up Detroit’s ‘Sonic and Knuckles’ running back tandem, leaving three-time Pro Bowler Jahmyr Gibbs as the primary engine in the backfield – for now. In Texans, Montgomery will provide a punch to a rushing attack that floundered with Joe Mixon missing the entire season and the line struggling to generate a push.

Who fared better in the swap? Here’s our breakdown for each side:

Texans trade grade: B-

The motivation and thought process for Houston seems pretty straightforward.

With rookie Woody Marks and veteran Nick Chubb stepping up to lead the way in the aftermath of Mixon’s foot/ankle injury – which remains shrouded in uncertainty – the Texans ranked 29th in yards per carry (3.9) and expected points added per rush. That left a disproportionate burden on C.J. Stroud, whom general manager Nick Caserio staunchly backed even after his rough showing in the playoffs. The most reasonable solution to help stabilize a volatile young passer, it stood to reason, was equipping him with a dependable run game.

Montgomery will turn 29 in June, but he’s still performing at a level that will would make for a meaningful boost to the Texans’ offense if he remains on his current trajectory. Finishing drives was another major problem area for Houston, with the team ranking 29th in red zone efficiency. The seven-year veteran might merely keep his new attack on schedule and hammer out some difficult yards, but that’s a needed element for Houston to have any hope of getting past its most glaring limitations. He should also make a distinct mark in the aerial attack as an ace pass blocker and outlet for Stroud when the signal-caller is under duress.

Those shortcomings, however, start up front. And after Houston traded the versatile Tytus Howard to the Cleveland Browns earlier Monday, it’s difficult to see how the organization plans to tackle the issue at its root. Blake Fisher’s development at right tackle remains concerning, to the point that USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis projected in his latest mock draft for the team to grab Clemson’s Blake Miller in the first round. With Howard gone and Scruggs shipped off as well, additional reinforcements are required on the interior for a front that made plenty of progress in pass protection but couldn’t dictate terms in the ground game.

The Texans seem to be shouldering Montgomery with a lot and expecting a quick fix. They shouldn’t come out of this deal empty-handed, but the problem might be more wide-reaching than they’re prepared to admit.

Lions trade grade: B

Parting with a key contributor is no doubt tough for a Detroit team intent on recapturing its leading contender status. But general manager Brad Holmes made it sound as though Montgomery’s fate wouldn’t be determined solely by the team’s plans.

‘We’d love to have him,’ Holmes said Feb. 24 at the NFL scouting combine. ‘Kind of want to put last year in the rearview and just move forward. But obviously, a player has to want to be at a certain place as well. So those conversations are still fluid and we’ll just kind of see how it goes.’

If Montgomery was truly intent on pushing his way elsewhere, this amounts to a nice return for a back of his age. Holmes has more resources to go hunting for Day 2 and 3 gems in the draft, and Scruggs, a 2023 second-round pick, is a decent depth toss-in for a franchise forced to rethink its own front.

The question for Detroit now becomes where the team turns for its missing physicality in the backfield. New offensive coordinator Drew Petzing surely doesn’t want to run Gibbs into the ground, especially given his heightened importance in the new offensive dynamic. Backup Sione Vaki was a fourth-round pick in 2024, but he only has logged seven carries in two years.

A value signing after the first wave of free agency could be in order if there’s the right fit. The Lions could look back to the draft as well, though this year’s running back group is widely seen as one of the weaker points of the class. There are several promising inside runners, such as Arkansas’ Mike Washington Jr. and Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson, but the top options might come at too rich of a price for a role that will be largely complementary. Washington’s Jonah Coleman and Penn State’s Kaytron Allen might be more attainable figures who could help fill the vacancy.